ESSP News Item: Councillor John Hodges

It was with great sadness that members and partners of the East Sussex Strategic Partnership received the news of the death of John Hodges who has been an active member since 2000.

Chair of the East Sussex Strategic Partnership Steve Manwaring paid tribute to John’s work and commitment:

“Our thoughts are very much with John’s family friends and colleagues at this sad time. In both his business and community endeavours John was always actively engaged, committed and a great believer in inclusion for all. A forceful advocate for regeneration, effective business infrastructure and support, he also took great interest in a wide range of local community issues. Because of this he brought to our partnership a unique mix of both commercial and community experience which contributed greatly to our work. He will be much missed by us all”. 

 East Sussex Better Together Launch Health Help Now App

ESBT have launched an innovative new website and mobile phone app to help people in East Sussex to understand where they should go for treatment, especially when they are not sure what to do or who to contact.

The Health Help Now web app can be found online at healthhelpnow-nhs.net and is free to everyone who lives and works in East Sussex. It functions like a mobile phone app and helps people check their symptoms and find the best place for treatment – showing which services near them are open. It will help people to know when to go to A&E, and when not to. It breaks down symptoms by age – baby, child, teenager, adult and older adult. This is to make it easier for people to find the right treatment for them.

Health Help Now has been developed with input from local GPs, hospital doctors, paramedics and other health professionals. It is thought to be the most detailed and sophisticated local NHS web app in the country.

After clicking on age, symptoms and location, people are presented with a list of suggestions for treatment. The most suitable choice for most people is listed first and the other suggestions follow in order. It shows the nearest services and is time sensitive so details whether services are open or closed and provides a map of their location.

Health Help Now also offers advice – such as where to buy children’s medication when pharmacies are closed - and links to other useful websites.

The easy-to-use web app works on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. Anyone who doesn’t have internet access is advised to dial NHS 111 for urgent healthcare advice 24 hours a day.

The East Sussex Joint Strategic Needs & Assessment (JSNNA) 

The JSNAA is available at www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk. The site contains both local and national resources for those who commission, provide or use health and social care services in East Sussex.

On the site you will find:
• date in the form of scorecards
• area summaries
• local comprehensive needs assessments
• profiles that compare our local data with national data
• overview reports and briefings that pull information from a wide range of sources into one document
• ... and much much more.

Keep an eye out in March for updated scorecards and area summaries. There will also be a consultation survey running about the site and its contents.

To keep up-to-date with any new content please subscribe to a short monthly email alert here: www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk/subscribe

Have your say at the East Sussex Have your Say Hub

Please visit the East Sussex Have Your Say Hub for opportunities to give your views. You can search for consultations by keyword, postcode, interest etc. You can also see how previous feedback has influenced our decision making process and what has happened as an outcome.

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service helps SPARK celebrate the achievements of local young people and volunteers

SPARK – a network for young people’s organisations in East Sussex – is delighted to announce that it will be holding its fourth awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of young people and the adults who support them on 10 May at the Winter Garden in Eastbourne. This year the main sponsor of the SPARK Awards is East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (ESFRS).

David Kemp, Head of Community Safety, ESFRS, says of his involvement with the awards:
“We are delighted to be involved in this year’s SPARK Awards. The work that SPARK do in supporting, connecting and celebrating groups and organisations that work with young people is so important, and it’s exactly why we want to be part of this fantastic network now and into the future.

As a service we are committed to building stronger connections with the younger members of the communities we serve. We are already providing education through our road safety initiatives including Safe Drive Stay Alive and support through our Firewise scheme.

We look forward to working more with SPARK in the future and wish all those nominated for awards the best of luck in May.”

This inspiring event will feature performances from young SPARK members and will be attended by local MPs and representatives of the children and young people’s sector. There are 13 award categories – including a new Enterprise Achievement Award – as well as the overall SPARK Award, which is awarded to an individual, team or organisation that the judging panel believes has earned special recognition in the voluntary and community sector.

"Recognition from the SPARK Awards has given my wonderful team of volunteers new motivation and positivity … the SPARK Awards enabled us to showcase our results and spread the word about our community theatre.” - Paula Woolven, Director, Seaford Musical Theatre Juniors – previous winners of the SPARK Award

For more information on the awards, please visit: http://www.sparknetwork.org.uk/spark-awards-2016

Brighton Housing Trust Training

BHT courses have been designed to meet the training and development needs of people working in the voluntary sector, focusing primarily on work with vulnerable adults.

Training courses running in East Sussex in March

Developing Emotionally Resilient Teams – Thursday 10th March
Managing Difficult & Aggressive Situations – Tuesday 22nd March
Universal Credit & Welfare Reform Workshop & Lunch – Thursday 24th March
Depression Management – Wednesday 30th March
Empowering Difficult to Engage Clients - Thursday 31st March

All of the above courses will be running in Brighton unless stated otherwise. If you would like further information about one of the courses listed, please contact the Training Team:
Tel:  01273 645401 Email: training@bht.org.uk  Website: www.bht-training.org.uk
 

Costal Wellbeing WRAP Courses

Coastal Wellbeing has just celebrated its third year delivering Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) across East Sussex and have lots of courses planned for 2016. Please follow the link for details on upcoming WRAP courses for Drug & Alcohol Recovery and Mental Health & Wellbeing. Costal Wellbeing are also in the process of booking more groups for Carers and people with Long Term Health Conditions.

Also new for 2016, Lucy Tucknott (FdSc MBACP) is now offering counselling sessions in Newhaven.  If you would like more information on cost and booking please contact Lucy on 07598 323 254.
 

ESSP Annual Assembly

The East Sussex Strategic Partnership's first meeting of 2016 was held on Wednesday 2 March at County Hall in Lewes. Devolution, Community Resilience and Transport were on the agenda, which can be viewed along with the papers at: www.essp.org.uk/Meeting-papers-and-reports

Update on East Sussex in Figures - February 2016

East Sussex in Figures (ESiF) is the local information system (LIS) for the county.  It’s a website that provides access to essential data, information and analysis.

Headlines
A new briefing giving analysis of the latest earnings data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings is now available.
A short analysis of the latest Business Demography data is now available.
The latest Economic Update is now available, one of a series of papers giving an overview of key economic trends in the county covering topics such as business trends, the labour market and economic performance.

Latest datasets – highlights
Claimant Count including JSA and Universal Credit – November 2015 data added
Average earnings data – updated and added weekly, annual and hourly data
Business demography - updated
Population of working age claiming benefits including out-of-work benefits - updated

Please contact the Research and Information team if you have any specific data or information enquiries.